Human mufti and artificial Intelligence: a Maqasid-based analysis of fatwa ethics and mufti qualifications in Islamic law

The increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into religious knowledge production raises critical questions regarding religious authority, ethical agency, and the future of Islamic legal decision-making. This study examines how AI-generated responses to Islamic legal questions perform against epistemological, methodological, and ethical requirements traditionally associated with Islamic legal reasoning. Employing a qualitative, comparative, and interpretive research design, the study analyzes ten fatwas concerning women’s travel without a maḥram issued by classical and contemporary Muslim scholars and compares them with corresponding responses generated by ChatGPT-5.5. The analysis is guided by three evaluative dimensions: the classical doctrine of shurūṭ al-muftī; juristic reasoning, including source accuracy, representation of juristic disagreement, taṣwīr al-masʾalah (case formulation), and taḥqīq al-manāṭ (context-sensitive application); and Maqāṣid-based ethical reasoning. The findings indicate that ChatGPT-5.5 can effectively summarize juristic opinions and identify dominant legal positions, but demonstrates limitations in contextual reasoning, normative prioritization, ethical deliberation, and moral accountability. The analysis further identifies a structural ‘responsibility gap’ arising from AI’s lack of intentionality and legal agency. Within the scope of the ten ChatGPT-5.5 responses examined, the findings support an augmented iftāʾ model in which AI may assist with legal research and analysis while outputs remain subject to qualified human scholarly review.